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FAIRYTALE THEATRE!!! •THE PIED PIPER OF HAMELIN (1957), •THE PIED PIPER OF HAMELIN (1957), •JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH (1967), •THE QUEEN OF HEARTS (1934), •THE PIED PIPER OF HAMELIN (1957)
TONIGHT: STRICTLY MEMBERS-ONLY
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SPLODGE! NOTES: 1st. Mon. in AUGUST (07/08/06)
ON THE FIRST MONDAY OF EVERY MONTH
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Unusual films of discernment, still presented in convivial
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Unusual films of discernment, still presented in convivial
surroundings!
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3rd. Quartile
3rd. Quartile
AUGUST
AD 2006
Monday 07th
Registration: 7.30 - 8.00 pm
Screening: >>>>> 8.00 (*EIGHT*!!!!) pm <<<<<
TONIGHT: STRICTLY MEMBERS-ONLY
MEMBERSHIPS STILL AVAILABLE AT THE DOOR ON THE NIGHT
MEMBERSHIPS STILL AVAILABLE AT THE DOOR ON THE NIGHT
DETAILS BELOW
TONIGHT! -
FAIRYTALE THEATRE!!!
•THE QUEEN OF HEARTS (1934)
The famous old nursery rhyme is set to swingy music. Happy, smiling "hearts" leap off their playing cards and bake dessert for the King in a gorgeous 1930s Art Deco kitchen. The premise climaxes with an all-in food-fight between the Hearts, Joker, King, Queen and nasty Knave. Prod: UB IWERKS (Celebrity Productions Inc.), PAT POWERS. Dir: UB IWERKS. SHAMUS CULHANE, AL EUGSTER. Mus: CARL W. STALLING. 6 mins. RM
plus
•JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH (1967)
A fantastic episode from the ripping series from FILMATION ASSOCIATES, the kindly folk who also brought us other such similarly visually dynamic animated programmes as STAR TREK and BATMAN! This episode, OCEAN OF DESTRUCTION, is one to see for the lush color print alone. Don't mind the plot, just… watch... the… pretty colours! (Listen closely for the voice of Mary Tyler Moore Show funny-man TED KNIGHT, voicing the dual roles of Professor Oliver Lindenbrook and Count
Saccnusson!) (Very) loosely based on the novel by JULES VERNE. Prod: Lou Scheimer, Norm Prescott. 30 mins. RM
and
featuring:
•THE PIED PIPER
OF HAMELYN
(1957)
At the next Splodge! - proving what good taste in cinema he has - is one of Irving’s favourite children’s films, THE PIED PIPER OF HAMELIN!
In truth, THIS is a timeless film, but also, in particular, one especially for our own time - with a moral lesson to teach our despicable rulers, and those who would have us believe that we owe our neighbour nothing; that competition is everything; that status, “aspiration” to the money-economy, wealth and cunning are the highest virtues.
In truth, THIS is a timeless film, but also, in particular, one especially for our own time - with a moral lesson to teach our despicable rulers, and those who would have us believe that we owe our neighbour nothing; that competition is everything; that status, “aspiration” to the money-economy, wealth and cunning are the highest virtues.
When the flood-stricken, refugee folk of Hamelout town, represented by their Mayor, are shown cold comfort by the materialistic, "reason"-ruled politicians of nearby Hamelin, a plague of rats - also fleeing the rising waters – see their way clear - without the need for such a formal entreaty - to make themselves at home amidst the mean-hearted, status-obsessed Hamelinites.
Into this troubled community enters The Pied (ie. multicoloured) Piper, both an agent of change, as well as the “Avenging Angel”.
The flood acts like a kind of “engine” to the parable – it is the cause of the need for the Hamelouts to seek out their neighbour’s help, the denial of which - highlighting the callousness of Hamelin - is also the very instrument which warrants the chastising curse.
Pied Piper: “As a rule / I refrain from calling any man a fool. Heed me now. / I'll wait until yon clock strikes the hour. / Don't let me go away / Without my pay!”
It’s clear that the moral imperative of the story demands that the Piper’s bargain will be dishonoured. This is not just a simple story about four-legged vermin eradication. The Piper is not primarily on scene to deliver the town from its more recent rodent taint, but, firstly, to force the issue of its longer-standing resident Rats, the grown-ups. (The citizenry of Hamelin is certainly held culpable, for they tolerate their corrupt leaders and follow them in their directives, and, thus, it is understandable that they suffer the permanent forfeit of their children for allowing their representative to swindle the Piper. It is, in general, overlooked that the children of Hamelin never do return from the enchanted land within the mountain – when children do appear, at the close of the film, they are the children from Hamelout! This is one of the creepiest elements in the tale, largely contributing to the longstanding psychic perturbations it produces –
whatever did happen to those children from Hamelin?? Only one of the kids is "spared" - the disabled boy, Truson's friend, Paul, who cannot keep up with all the other children, and, agonisingly, misses out on the delights of the "Other World". There is no way to shirk paying the Piper. The penalty for doing so will always be remembered as a bitter one for those who remain, long after the Piper himself has gone.) Not surprising really, considering the other standard horrors of the Grimm-type fairytale genre.
THE PIED PIPER OF HAMELIN is certainly an unusual, yet beguiling children's fantasy, a winning hybrid of Hollywood musical and operetta, combining its haunting instrumental score with bouncy, canny lyrics by Irving Taylor and Hal Stanley. UNQUESTIONABLY, the best number in the whole film is the rollickingly delicious "Prestige", in which a haunting Grieg melody is yoked to some hilarious, cynical lyrics as CLAUDE RAINS - inebriated by power, and drink – revels in the secret of his Machiavellian technique.
THE PIED PIPER OF HAMELIN is certainly an unusual, yet beguiling children's fantasy, a winning hybrid of Hollywood musical and operetta, combining its haunting instrumental score with bouncy, canny lyrics by Irving Taylor and Hal Stanley. UNQUESTIONABLY, the best number in the whole film is the rollickingly delicious "Prestige", in which a haunting Grieg melody is yoked to some hilarious, cynical lyrics as CLAUDE RAINS - inebriated by power, and drink – revels in the secret of his Machiavellian technique.
The film is loosely based on ROBERT BROWNING’s version of the Pied Piper story ( - the dialogue is even in rhyming couplets! - though not taken from the poem) a German folk tale, first documented by the Brothers Grimm.
VAN JOHNSON is solid as the leading man, Trueson, friend to the children, and conscience to the town - but he also makes a great, albeit vaguely sinister Pied Piper - half Satan, half saviour. (And, of course, how can we at Splodge! let it pass without commenting that this is the role that provided the basis for Van’s “special guest villian” in the Batman tv series, THE MINSTREL! ( - eps: BARBEQUED BATMAN, and THE MINSTREL’S SHAKEDOWN – both 1966)!!
CLAUDE RAINS, late in his career - and looking a little baggy around the eyes - is ideal as the devious Mayor - affable, self-assured, charismatic, yet still as evil, brow-beating, and child-hating a tyrant and corrupt despot as you could imagine - without scaring the kids too much.
LORI NELSON is super as the Princess Mara – we remember her fondly as MAMIE VAN DOREN’s sister in UNTAMED YOUTH (1957)!
The beloved DOODLES WEAVER ( - yup, SIGOURNEY WEAVER's uncle, and mainstay of SPIKE JONES’ band!!) is just great as the Mayor's First Counselor, as is STANLEY ADAMS (below) - familiar face in myriad TV series, and such films as BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S (1961) and NORTH BY NORTHWEST (1959), as the Second Counselor.
(WEAVER and ADAMS, together, carry off a delightful Laurel and Hardy pastiche throughout.) JIM BACKUS, moonlighting from MR. MAGOO cartoons, gives us an early glimpse of Thurston Howell, the 3rd, as "the King's traveling
emissary" - a jaded, gleefully amoral fop who doesn't mind getting sloshed on free wine, and whiling away the hours with the local floosies.
Try as he might to be heinous throughout, Backus can't help lapsing into lovable Magoo as his role progresses.
“Special Guest Star” KAY STARR ( - popular RCA recording artist of the day), underscoring the immensity of the town’s tragic loss, sings a moving hymn to her lost
son, John.
The strong cast, along with Grieg's haunting music ( - especially for the ridding of the rats, set to that implacable, obsessive-compulsive "IN THE HALL OF THE MOUNTAIN KING" – watch out for this scene - those mouses are ANIMATED! ) help to make up for any possible filmic shortcomings.
The rich colour and the obvious studio sets add greatly to the dreamlike charm. Although entirely stage-bound, it's a lively, attractive, and colourful production - comparable to an MGM musical. And, as I
alluded previously, there is some enjoyable, classy F/X work - from a handsome matte painting of Hamelin town, to those spooky animated rats, to a fleeting, mouth-watering glimpse of the Piper's playland for the abducted children!
Watch out, too, for these moments of high drama - after the Piper warns the townspeople that they will regret the day they ripped him off, the bell-ringing automatons on the clock tower droop over, apparently drained of life! Later, an enraged mother grabs the Mayor's pendant in a symbolic removal of power; the Mayor looks at her with seething hate, and seems ready to attack her, but suddenly bows his head in abrupt self-awareness and shame. Time has not been kind to the movie genre of children's musical fantasy,
and this film is seen by philistines as a casualty which dates badly, but WE think THE PIED PIPER OF HAMELIN is ONE OF THE GREATEST MOTION PICTURE PRODUCTIONS OF ALL TIME!!! Old-fashioned it may be, but THE PIED PIPER OF HAMELIN still has the power to cast a spell, for the young or those who are young at heart.
Prod Co: Starstan Music Corporation. Prod: Hal Stanley. Dir: Bretaigne Windust. Wr: Irving Taylor and Hal Stanley (Book and Lyrics), ROBERT BROWNING (poem). Mus: EDVARD GRIEG. Phot: William E. Synder. Production Design: Arthur Lonergan. Casting: Lynn Stalmaster (uncredited). Wardrobe: Monty M. Berman (as "Berman"). Special Photographic Effects: Jack Rabin, Louis DeWitt, Irving Block. Choreog: Ward Ellis. Cast: VAN JOHNSON (Truson/The Pied
Piper), CLAUDE RAINS (The Mayor), LORI NELSON (The Princess Mara), JIM BACKUS (The King's Emissary), KAY STARR (John's Mother), DOODLES WEAVER (First Counselor, uncredited), STANLEY ADAMS (Second Counselor, uncredited), OLIVER BLAKE
(leading citizen, uncredited) , RENE KROPER (Paul, uncredited), CARL BENTON
REID (The Mayor Of Hamelout, uncredited). 89 mins. RM
(leading citizen, uncredited) , RENE KROPER (Paul, uncredited), CARL BENTON
REID (The Mayor Of Hamelout, uncredited). 89 mins. RMNote: If you'd like to join our "low-kilobyte", no-attachment
Splodge!-lite mailing-list, just give us a "'hoy" here at
splodgeburger!
Splodge!-lite mailing-list, just give us a "'hoy" here at
splodgeburger!
Minor programme changes may occur due to unforseen
circumstances.
Feature runs last; shorts order may vary from listing.
circumstances.
Feature runs last; shorts order may vary from listing.
* Acknowledging ACMI Inc. & ScreenSound Australia ;) *
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THIS IS A FILM SOCIETY SCREENING OPEN TO MEMBERS
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commence!
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